T Nagar residents still waiting for smart meters

CHENNAI: The wait is still not over for T Nagar residents who were looking forward to the installation of smart electricity meters. A Tangedco official said the meters are still being tested because there were some errors in it. “We are working on it.

The initial delay was due to the pandemic.”  The project to install smart electricity meters in 12,708 households at T Nagar was proposed in 2017 under the smart city mission. Nearly 1.45 lakh smart meters have been procured from Venus Power Ventures India Ltd, at the cost of Rs 137 crore.

Another official from Tangedco said, “Since the installation work requires workmen to personally go to each and every house to replace the existing meters, the staff were scared of contracting the virus. Moreover, we were working with skeletal staff.” However, the residents of T Nagar urge Tangedco to complete the installation work before the onset of monsoon. 

“Most of the buildings in T Nagar are very old. The current electricity meters are installed in ground floor. Over the years, with the road levels being levelled-up, floods have increased. So, every time it rains, we switch off the electricity due to fear of electrocution,” said V Jayaraman, president, T Nagar Welfare Residents Association.

What you need to know about smart electronic meter 
A smart meter records power consumption and transmits the data to servers. The total consumption of power, on a monthly or bi-monthly basis, is sent to the consumer as SMS and email. They also provide near real time notification for outages to enable faster detection and restoration.